Beverage cooler

ABSTRACT

Cooler for a beverage, e.g. beer, which enables dispense at low temperature with good appearance of the dispensed beverage, comprises an inlet and an outlet, at least one heat exchanger ( 10, 30, 32 ) between the inlet and the outlet through which the beverage can be passed to cool it and at least one Peltier plate assembly ( 12, 14, 42 ) connected to a voltage supply whereby a cold side and a hot side may be generated at the assembly, characterised in that the assembly ( 12, 14 ) is positioned whereby the beverage can also be cooled by passage past the cold side of the assembly ( 12, 14 ) on its passage to the outlet or whereby the coolant after passage through the heat exchanger ( 32 ) is cooled by passage past the cold side of the assembly ( 42 ) before being recirculated to the heat exchanger ( 32 ).

This invention relates to the cooling of beverages. In particular itrelates to the cooling of alcoholic beverages such as beers which mayneed to be cooled to relatively low temperatures such as about 0° C. atthe point of dispense.

Although not limited to the cooling of beers, the invention will forconvenience be described below with particular reference to beers.

Cooling of beers to temperatures as low as about 0° C. and dispensing atthat low temperature have proved difficult to achieve with conventionaldispense technology and this can deleteriously affect the appearance andpresentation of the beer.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved means of coolingbeverages, particularly beer, to such low temperatures.

Accordingly, the invention provides an apparatus for cooling a beverage,the apparatus comprising an inlet and an outlet, at least one heatexchanger between the inlet and the outlet through which the beveragecan be passed to cool it, and at least one Peltier plate assemblyconnected to a voltage supply whereby a cold side and a hot side may begenerated at the assembly, the assembly being positioned whereby thebeverage can also cooled by passage past the cold side of the assemblyon its passage to the outlet or whereby the coolant after passagethrough the heat exchanger is cooled by passage past the cold side ofthe assembly before being recirculated to the heat exchanger.

The inlet may conveniently be connected to a source or reservoir of thebeverage, e.g. a keg of beer, and the beverage may be passed to theinlet by conventional means, e.g. by pumping or under gas pressure.

The heat exchanger may be cooled, for example, by connection to aconventional python to pass cooled water through it.

The outlet may include a dispense point for the beverage or may beconnectable to an existing dispense point.

In a first embodiment of the invention the beverage is cooled directlyby the Peltier plate assembly and in a second embodiment of theinvention the beverage is cooled in a heat exchanger by means of acoolant that has been cooled by the Peltier plate assembly.

It is, of course, possible to combine both embodiments of the inventionso that the beverage is cooled directly by Peltier plate assembly and isalso cooled in a heat exchanger by means of a coolant that has beencooled by another or the same Peltier plate assembly.

In the first embodiment, the beverage is preferably passed through aseries of cooling stages so that its temperature, in the example ofbeer, may be reduced from, say, 6° C. in the source or reservoir to thedesired about 0° C. Thus, in a particularly preferred specificembodiment, the beverage from the source may first be passed through aheat exchanger to reduce its temperature from, say, 6° C. to 3° C., thenpast the cold side of a first Peltier plate assembly to reduce itstemperature further to, say 1.5° C., and then finally past the cold sideof a second Peltier plate assembly to reduce its temperature to, say, 0°C. whereby the final desired dispense temperature of, say, 1° C. in theglass may be achieved.

In this embodiment the coolant pumped through the heat exchanger mayconveniently be cold water from a conventional python.

It will be appreciated that the number and order of the cooling stagesmay be changed to suit particular circumstances.

In the second embodiment, the beverage is preferably passed from thereservoir through two successive heat exchangers and then to thedispense point. The coolant in the first heat exchanger may be pythonwater and the coolant in the second heat exchanger may be, for example,a glycol/water mixture which is circulated past the cold side of thePeltier plate assembly and then through the second heat exchanger.

In a particularly preferred arrangement of the second embodiment, thepython water is circulated through the first heat exchanger and thenpast the hot side of the Peltier plate assembly before returning to thepython for cooling and then passage again to the first heat exchanger.In this arrangement, for beer, the beer may be cooled from about 6° C.,for example, to about 3° C. on exiting the first heat exchanger and thento about 0° C. on exiting the second heat exchanger so that it can thenbe dispensed at about 1° C. The python water in this example maybe atabout 5° C. or 6° C. on exiting the first heat exchanger and is stillsufficiently cool to extract further heat from the hot side of thePeltier plate assembly before returning to the python.

The coolant, e.g. glycol/water mixture, in this second embodiment may becirculated from a reservoir, kept, for example, at about −2° C. andlinked to the Peltier plate assembly by temperature sensor and controlmeans, known per se, to control the rate of flow to the desiredtemperature.

Again, it will be appreciated that the number and order of the coolingstages may be changed to suit particular circumstances.

The second embodiment described above may need to be run continuouslyfor periods of time to ensure that the reservoir of coolant(glycol/water) is kept sufficiently cold to cope with peaks of beveragedispensing, i.e. a succession of drinks being dispensed. On the otherhand the first embodiment described above is particularly suited toproviding very rapid cooling of the beverage and so need be activatedonly by the activation of the dispense point.

The apparatus of the invention may also be utilised in systems in whichthe beverage is recirculated to and from the dispense point so that itdoes not stand for any length of time in the pipework or any reservoirwhere its condition could deteriorate.

The Peltier plate assemblies for use in the invention are well known perse and comprise a form of thermoelectric heat pump in which the passageof direct current through the plate assembly causes one side of theassembly to cool and the opposite side to heat up.

Conventional pythons are also well known per se.

The invention provides effective means of dispensing cooled beverageswith a number of advantages.

There is a minimised risk of contamination of the beverage;

The apparatus can be designed to suit a large range of dispensethroughput for a particular time period.

A separate cooled reservoir of the beverage is not required and thebeverage, particularly beer, is less likely to suffer deterioration inthe cooling/dispensing process.

There may be no heat output in the dispense area.

The cooling apparatus has few or no moving parts and is easy to clean.

The apparatus can be fitted as original equipment in a new dispensearrangement or can readily be retro-fitted into an existing arrangement.

It utilises existing technology in a novel, advantageous manner.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of exampleonly with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of one beverage cooling and dispenseapparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a similar illustration of another beverage cooling anddispense apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention.

In FIG. 1 is shown an apparatus for cooling beer, the flow of beer beingindicted by single-headed arrows and the flow of coolant bydouble-headed arrows.

Beer at about 6° C. is pumped from a reservoir (not shown) through aheat exchanger 10. From the heat exchanger, where it emerges at about 3°C., it is pumped past the cold side of a first Peltier plate assembly 12from where it emerges at about 1.5° C. From there it is pumped past thecold side of a second Peltier plate assembly 14 from where it emerges atabout 0° C. It then passes through a flow sensor 16 to a dispense tap 18where it can be dispensed into a glass 20 at a temperature of about 1°C.

The Peltier plate assemblies 12 and 14 are connected by lines 12A, 14Arespectively to a control and power supply 22 which can provide lowvoltage DC current to the assemblies. Sensor 16 is also connected byline 16A to control 22 whereby the current can be switched on and offand the assemblies activated as required by each beer dispense that isactivated and then completed at tap 18.

Cold python water, e.g. at 1° C. to 3° C. from a python (not shown) isintroduced as the coolant into heat exchanger 10 to effect the initialcooling of the beer. After passing through the heat exchanger, thepython water is passed past the hot side of Peltier plate assembly 14and then past the hot side of Peltier plate assembly 12 before returningto the python. Thus the python water is colder passing assembly 14 thanassembly 12.

The python water may be circulated, for example, at a rate of at least 4litres/minute but it will be appreciated that this value and the abovetemperatures are for illustration purposes only.

When the apparatus of FIG. 1 is not being used to dispense the beer, thecoolant water passing through the system, which may be at a temperatureof up to, say 3° C., may have a warming effect on the Peltier plateassemblies 12 and 14. A temperature sensor (not shown) may, therefore,be placed in each assembly and connected to the control unit 22, asindicated by lines 12B, 14B respectively. The control unit ispreprogrammed to provide any necessary trickle feed of current to theassemblies 12, 14 to maintain them at the desired temperature.

To protect against the possibility that the beer might freeze in thesystem, particularly at one of the Peltier plate assemblies, the controlunit 22 may also be provided with a de-frost means 24, which can beactivated to reverse temporarily the Peltier effect and thereby warm upthe normally cold side of either or both assemblies to unfreeze thebeer.

In FIG. 2 is shown another apparatus for cooling beer, the flow of beeragain being indicted by single-headed arrows.

Beer at about 6° C. is pumped from a reservoir (not shown) through afirst heat exchanger 30 from which it emerges at about 3° C. It is thenpumped through a second heat exchanger 32 from which it emerges at about0° C. From there it is pumped to a dispense tap 34 from which it can bedispensed into a glass 36 at about 1° C.

The beer in heat exchanger 30 is cooled by python water from a python(not shown). The flow of the python water is indicated by triple-headedarrows. The beer in heat exchanger 32 is cooled further by aglycol/water coolant from a glycol reservoir 38. The flow of thisglycol/water coolant is indicated by double-headed arrows. It is pumpedby means of a pump 40 to circulate from the reservoir 38, through theheat exchanger 32 and then past the cold plate of a Peltier plateassembly 42 and back to reservoir 38. The glycol/water temperature inreservoir 38 may be maintained at about −2° C. and its temperature maybe monitored and controlled by control unit 44, which also supplies lowvoltage DC current to the Peltier plate assembly 42.

As shown, the python water on exiting heat exchanger 30 is passed to thePeltier plate assembly 42 where it passes into contact with and coolsthe hot side of the assembly.

The glycol/water reservoir can be of any volume chosen to suit theparticular circumstances. For example, it may be of 4 to 5 litres andthe Peltier plate assembly may be of 80 watts capacity or more but itwill also be apparent that increasing the size of the glycol/waterreservoir can lead to increased performance. Moreover, the use of thepython water to give an initial cooling of the beer increases thedispense capacity using a Peltier assembly of a given, e.g. 80 watts,capacity and, indeed may double that capacity. The python water may becirculated, as in FIG. 1, at a rate of at least 4 litres/minute.

Again, it will be appreciated that the numerical values given are forillustration purposes only.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments shown.

For example the arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2 may be altered by use of amanifold to supply coolant to the heat exchangers and Peltier plateassemblies, whereby they can be arranged in parallel instead of inseries.

The heat exchangers and Peltier plate assemblies may be fitted inside asingle container for ease of fitment to the beverage dispense line, forconvenience and to save space.

In an arrangement such as shown in FIG. 1, for example, units 10, 12 and14 can be joined together to form a single integral unit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fluid dispenser for cooling a fluid to atemperature close to a predetermined desired dispense temperature,comprising: a reservoir of a first liquid coolant, the first liquidcoolant circulated to and from the reservoir through a coolant conduit,the coolant conduit providing for a flow of the liquid coolant from thereservoir to a first heat exchanger and to a second heat exchanger, thesecond heat exchanger including a thermoelectric device having a coldside and a hot side and the coolant liquid in heat exchange contact withthe hot side thereof, a reservoir of the fluid to be cooled and a fluidconduit extending there from to the first heat exchanger to provide forheat exchange cooling of the fluid by the liquid coolant and the fluidconduit providing for flow of the liquid from the first heat exchangerto the second heat exchanger for providing heat exchange contact betweenthe fluid and the cold side of the thermoelectric device, and the secondheat exchanger cooling the fluid by an amount less than or equal to thetemperature reduction thereof provided by the first heat exchanger tothereby closely approach the predetermined desired dispense temperature,and the fluid conduit flowing from the second heat exchanger to adispense point from which the fluid can be dispensed.
 2. The dispenseras defined in claim 1, and further including a control for regulatingthe operation of the thermoelectric device as a function of a sensedtemperature thereof as determined by a temperature sensor therein. 3.The dispenser as defined in claim 1, and further including a control forregulating the operation of the thermoelectric device as a function of asensed volume of fluid dispensed from the dispense point as determinedby a flow sensor.
 4. The dispenser as defined in claim 1, and furtherincluding a control for regulating the operation of the thermoelectricdevice as a function of a sensed temperature thereof as determined by atemperature sensor therein and the control also regulating the operationof the thermoelectric device as a function of a sensed volume of fluiddispensed from the dispense point as determined by a flow sensor.
 5. Thedispenser as defined in claim 1, and further including a third, heatexchanger, the third heat exchanger also including a thermoelectricdevice having a cold side and a hot side and the coolant conduitproviding for a flow of liquid coolant to the third heat exchanger forheat exchange contact with the hot side of the thermoelectric devicethereof and the third heat exchanger reducing the temperature of thefluid by an amount less than or equal to the temperature reductionthereof provided by the second heat exchanger to thereby further closelyapproach the predetermined desired dispense temperature.
 6. Thedispenser as defined in claim 5, and further including a control forregulating the operation of the thermoelectric devices of both thesecond and third heat exchangers as a function of a sensed temperaturesthereof as determined by temperature sensors therein.
 7. The dispenseras defined in claim 5, and further including a control for regulatingthe operation of the thermoelectric devices of the first and second heatexchangers as a function of a sensed volume of fluid dispensed from thedispense point as determined by a flow sensor.
 8. The dispenser asdefined in claim 5, and further including a control for regulating theoperation of the thermoelectric devices of both the second and thirdheat exchangers as a function of a sensed temperatures thereof asdetermined by temperature sensors therein and the control alsoregulating the operation of the thermoelectric devices of the first andsecond heat exchangers as a function of a sensed volume of fluiddispensed from the dispense point as determined by a flow sensor.
 9. Afluid dispenser for cooling a fluid to a temperature close to apredetermined desired dispense temperature, comprising: a reservoir of afirst liquid coolant, the first liquid coolant circulated to and fromthe reservoir through a coolant conduit, the coolant conduit providingfor a flow of the liquid coolant from the reservoir to a first heatexchanger and to a second heat exchanger, the second heat exchangerincluding a thermoelectric device having a cold side and a hot side andthe coolant liquid in heat exchange contact with the hot side thereof, acoolant reservoir for containing a volume of liquid coolant the liquidcoolant circulated there from to a third heat exchanger and to the coldside of the thermoelectric device for heat exchange cooling of theliquid coolant, a reservoir of the fluid to be cooled and a fluidconduit extending there from to the first heat exchanger to provide forheat exchange cooling of the fluid by the liquid coolant and the fluidconduit providing for flow of the liquid from the first heat exchangerto the third heat exchanger for providing heat exchange contact betweenthe fluid and the liquid coolant, and the third heat exchanger coolingthe fluid by an amount less than or equal to the temperature reductionthereof provided by the first heat exchanger to thereby closely approachthe predetermined desired dispense temperature, and the fluid conduitflowing from the third heat exchanger to a dispense point from which thefluid can be dispensed.
 10. The fluid dispenser as defined in claim 9,and further including a control for monitoring the temperature of thethermoelectric device and of the liquid coolant in the liquid coolantreservoir for regulating the temperature of the liquid coolant.